Microprocessors and other related computer components are becoming more and more powerful with increasing capabilities, resulting in increasing amounts of heat generated from these components. Packaged units and integrated circuit die sizes of these components are decreasing or remaining the same, which increases the amount of heat energy given off by the components for a given unit of surface area. Furthermore, as computer related equipment becomes more powerful, more and more components are being placed inside the equipment which is also decreasing in size, resulting in additional heat generation in a smaller volume of space. Increased temperatures can potentially damage the components of the equipment, or reduce the lifetime of the individual components and the equipment. Generally the performance of these components go down with the increase in temperature. Therefore, large amounts of heat produced by many such integrated circuits must be dissipated, and therefore must be accounted for in designing the integrated circuit mounting and packaging devices.
In current packaging techniques, heat sinks are often applied to the side of the integrated circuit opposite the side from which the electrical pin connections are mounted. As such, the heat sink is oriented extending away from a printed circuit board to which the integrated circuit is mounted. Therefore, the heat dissipation can be accomplished from only one side (back side) of the integrated circuit die. Further, the overall size of a heat sink is basically limited by the volume constraints of the housing.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons explained below, there is a need for an enhanced heat dissipation device for integrated circuit devices.